Blackley dad with six weeks to live in final plea to find long-lost son

A dad with just weeks to live has made an emotional plea to find his long-lost son. David Protano, 59, has been told he will die in less than six weeks after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He has not seen son Jason for more than 20 years and said his final wish is to be reunited.

A dad with just weeks to live has made an emotional plea to find his long-lost son.

David Protano, 59, has been told he will die in less than six weeks after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He has not seen son Jason for more than 20 years and said his final wish is to be reunited.

The pair lost touch when Jason was a teenager. David, of Alnwick Road, Blackley, wants to track Jason down so he can see him one last time.

He said: "I know I don’t have a lot of time left so I just want to say goodbye to my son while I still have the chance. It would be fabulous to see him again. It would be my final wish coming true.

"I don’t know how long I’ve got. At first, the doctors said six months, but then they said six weeks. Now they have said it could be even less."

David, a former factory worker, has already battled cancer twice before – once in 2002, when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer, and then again in 2008, when doctors told him he had liver cancer.

Despite being in remission, he was diagnosed earlier this year with secondary lung cancer.

With two tumours in his lungs, David has been left housebound and has to rely on an oxygen machine.

Since learning he has terminal cancer, he has trawled the internet, searching Facebook and other social networking sites to try to find Jason.

David last saw Jason – who also goes by the name of David – in around 1982.

He had been visiting his dad regularly after David and wife Josephine separated.

But when David’s relationship with Jason’s mum broke down, he left the area and lost contact with his son.

The last known address for Jason and Josephine was in Walkden, Salford, but when David came back to live in Blackley, he found the pair had moved on.

He said: "He would be about 40 now. I did see him after me and his mum split up but then I couldn’t find him. There’s not much time left for me, so I’m pleading for anyone who knows him, or if Jason is reading this, to please get in touch."

David’s partner Pat, 65, said: "This has been so hard for David. He has been fighting and fighting and our two grandchildren have kept him going.

"The grandchildren are four and two and they mean the world to him. It would make his day if he could now find his son again."